Westport River Gallery

19th Century Hudson River Four Seasons

The Four Seasons is soon available by a 19th Century Hudson River School (HRS) artist. The paintings  depict the American landscape as a pastoral setting, where human beings and nature coexist peacefully. HRS landscapes are characterized by their realistic, detailed, and sometimes idealized portrayal of nature, often juxtaposing peaceful agriculture and the remaining wilderness, fast disappearing from the Hudson Valley just as it was coming to be appreciated for its qualities of ruggedness and sublimity. They took as their inspiration such European masters as Claude Lorrain, John Constable and J.M.W. Turner, and shared a reverence for America's natural beauty with contemporary American writers such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Click for others.

CT-Born American Impressionist Rediscovered

A new upcoming exclusive exhibit at the Westport River Gallery depicts Will Hutchins’ personal vision of his travels throug the Northeast & Italy — from Little Deer Isle to the Venetian Lagoon. Born in 1878, in Colchester, CT, Hutchins was the only child of Charlotte Ann Hills & Rev. William Hutchins. A Yale Divinity grad and eloquent Congregational minister, he was respected as the foremost worldwide authority on the horticulture of the American sweet pea. Hutchins earned his BA at Yale in 1901 and the BFA in 1909, earning Phi Beta Kappa honors and class awards for his high-minded essays on art and spirituality. With a natural appeal to the footlights, he became a lifelong thespian. Acting, directing, and producing stage events, his papers include reams of original plays scripts of moralizing, episodic comedies, tragedies, and even a “medieval comedy." Click for other pictures.

Deer in Woods by Hudson River's Ernest Lotichius

Westport River Gallery presents an original oil painting from Hudson River School painter Ernest Lotichius’ (1840–1876). He was only 19 when he completed this picture, and died at age 34. The German-born artist's multilayered scenes are characteristic of the school’s visual style. The twisted branches, dense shrubbery, background water, and thick blanket of dense forest create an atmosphere of unbridled wilderness. The picture, full of rich browns, and golden yellow, melts into a fog of subdued blues, greens, and grays, creating a mystical ambiance that showcases the artist’s mastery of differing visual styles & brush techniques. The powerful picture at first dwarfts the deer (is there more than one?) in the giant tree's shadows.The oil is a view of the iconic Catskill Mountains, favored by NY artists after it had been popularized by Thomas Cole. Basic to today’s fascination with the Hudson Region is the strongly renewed interest in the Hudson River School, an essential component of the mid-19th century American art world centered in NYC. Cole, the revered founder of the movement, and Frederic Church, his most important student, are admired for the quality and idealistic nature of their works, which have fired the imaginations of generations of American landscape painters. The picture is 32x42, entitled "Deer in a Wooded Landscape," oil on canvas, signed lower left, dated 1859 and inscribed "NY." SOLD